Richness Metrics Research Articles

No Sign of Homogenisation in Reef Fish Communities Across an Ecological Transition Zone Exposed to Warming

ABSTRACTAimMarine organisms are responding to warming by altering their distribution ranges, causing biogeographic range shifts and in some cases, favouring the community homogenisation. Transition zones can act as natural laboratories to explore the consequences of homogenisation. However, these habitats are relatively poorly studied in coastal areas. In this study, we aimed to investigate biotic homogenisation and changes in reef fish community composition from both a taxonomic and trait‐based perspective.LocationSeven islands in the South‐western Atlantic transition zone.MethodsWe used a long‐term survey data set of reef fish species abundances and traits of communities to calculate beta‐diversity indices. By analysing the data, we derived temporal trends of beta‐diversity values by separately comparing the North and South regions of the transition zone and performed pairwise comparisons to explore their dynamics when considered together.ResultsContrary to previous expectations, we found no sign of homogenisation. The colder islands (Southern) experienced a decrease in taxonomic and trait richness metrics, whereas for the warmer islands (Northern), the taxonomic and trait richness fluctuated without any significant temporal trends.Main ConclusionsWhile taxonomic composition may change over time, the trait composition is generally more conserved, highlighting the trait redundancy in South‐western Atlantic communities and supporting the idea that these communities can maintain a range of ecological processes despite changes in taxonomic composition. Finally, the study revealed that despite non‐homogenisation, the species that contribute most to variation, especially in the South, have common trait combinations indicating an increase in the trait redundancy of fish communities over time. We underline that local‐scale conservation efforts may be particularly effective in preserving and protecting species and ecological functions in areas experiencing unique and fast changes in biodiversity.

A Comparative Analysis of the Ocular Microbiome: Insights into Healthy Eyes and Anophthalmic Sockets.

The purpose of this study is to characterize the ocular surface microbiota of patients with an anophthalmic cavity. An eNAT with 1 mL of Liquid Amies Medium was used to collect samples. Microbial DNA from anophthalmic socket and healthy fellow control eye samples was isolated and sequenced. Raw reads were analyzed with GAIA (v 2.02). The richness and Shannon alpha diversity metrics, as well as Bray-Curtis beta diversity and Wilcoxon signed-rank test values, were computed with R packages such as phyloseq, mia, or DESeq2 to allow for microbiome analysis. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) was performed using the function plotReducedDim from the R package scater. The different taxonomic profiles were described under the concept of eye community state type (ECST). The microbiomes of both eyes from 25 patients with an anophthalmic cavity were analyzed in this study. While the microbial communities of paired eyes from the same patients showed notable dissimilarity, no consistent patterns emerged when comparing healthy eyes to anophthalmic sockets. Alpha diversity values did not significantly differ between healthy eyes and anophthalmic socket samples, though there was considerable variability within each group. Notably, anophthalmic socket samples generally exhibited lower abundances of genera such as Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Paenibacillus, and Sediminibacterium compared to their healthy counterparts. Microbial variability between healthy eyes and anophthalmic sockets may be due to anatomical differences. Further research is needed to determine whether patients without anophthalmic sockets exhibit similar microbiome patterns in both eyes.

Importance of habit and environmental characteristics in shaping patterns of richness and range size of ferns and lycophytes in the Atlantic Forest.

Ferns and lycophytes, the two spore-bearing lineages of vascular plants, share a unique life cycle, and because of several morpho-ecophysiological similarities, are usually investigated as a unit, but they may have distinct ecological and environmental responses. Understanding the diversity and distribution patterns of ferns and lycophytes separately is essential for designing effective conservation strategies. We assessed species richness and range sizes using range-diversity analyses and investigated environmental (climatic, edaphic) and ecological (endemism, habit diversity, specialization) predictors of these range and richness metrics using generalized linear models. The central region of the Atlantic Forest primarily contained areas with fern and lycophyte species with high richness and small ranges; the northern and southern extremes of the forest had species with low richness and larger ranges. Fern richness was associated with a combination of environmental and ecological variables; lycophyte richness was associated only with ecological variables. Range sizes were positively related to habit diversity for both ferns and lycophytes, but the effect of environmental variables differed between the two lineages. Critical areas were primarily not within protected areas. Fern range sizes and richness were influenced by a combination of ecological and environmental factors such as temperature, precipitation, and soil variables; only ecological variables influenced lycophyte richness and range sizes. The effects of these factors must be considered separately for the two lineages due to their different responses to stressors. Conservation efforts should increase in the species-rich-low-range areas that are outside protected areas to protect these low-range species.

Characterization of newborn gut microbiota according to the pre-gestational maternal nutritional status and delivery mode.

The aim of this study is to characterize the composition of the newborn gut microbiota based on the maternal pre-pregnancy nutritional status and the delivery mode. A biological sample was collected from the anal mucosa of the newborns between 24 and 48h after delivery, as it was not possible to collect a meconium sample at that time. A general data collection questionnaire was administered. The microbiome of the samples was analyzed by next-generation sequencing of the hypervariable regions v3-v4 of the 16S gene. Alpha diversity analyses were performed using the Observed Richness and Shannon diversity index metrics and Beta diversity analyses were conducted using Nonmetric multidimensional scaling with Weighted Unifrac, Differential abundance analysis was performed using a Negative Binomial Wald Test with maximum likelihood estimation for coefficients of Generalized Linear Models. Newborns of obese mothers exhibited lower alpha diversity compared to newborns of mothers with adequate BMI (body mass index). We observed variation in the composition of the microbial community in newborn stool samples, both from mothers with overweight/obesity and those with adequate pre-pregnancy BMI. We observed a visible correlation between the mode of delivery and the newborn's microbiota. We found variation in the overall composition of the microbial community in the stools of newborns, regardless of the delivery mode. The results of our study demonstrate differences in the microbiota of neonates born via cesarean section compared to those born vaginally as well as differences in newborns of mothers with overweight/obesity compared to those with an adequate pre-pregnancy BMI.

Incorporating functional traits with habitat maps: patterns of diversity in coastal benthic assemblages

Benthic species assemblages are groups of species that co-occur on the seafloor. Linking assemblages to physical environmental features allows for understanding and predicting their spatial distribution. Species identity and abundance are commonly quantified using a taxonomic approach to assess benthic diversity, yet functional traits that describe the behavior, life history, and morphology of a species may be equally or more important. Here, we investigate the biodiversity of five benthic species assemblages in relation to their habitat and environmental conditions in an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) along Canada’s east coast, using both a taxonomic approach and biological traits analysis. Random Forest regression was applied to map spatial patterns of functional and taxonomic diversity metrics, including richness, Shannon index, and Rao’s quadratic entropy. We evaluate discrepancies between related taxonomic and trait measures, and the community-weighted mean of trait data was calculated to characterize each assemblage. Taxonomic and functional richness – representing the number of species and the species community volume in the trait space, respectively – showed similar spatial patterns. However, when considering diversity, which also accounts for the relative abundance and differences among species or traits, these patterns diverged. Taxonomically different assemblages exhibited similar trait compositions for two assemblages, indicating potential trait equivalencies, while one assemblage exhibited traits potentially indicating sensitivity to human activity. The taxonomic and functional metrics of richness and diversity were low close to the coast, which could be indicative of disturbance. Consideration of functional metrics can support spatial planning and prioritization for management and conservation efforts by assessing the sensitivity of traits to different stressors.

Two decades of increasing functional and phylogenetic richness in a mountaintop flora in central Norway

AbstractQuestionsAnalysing how multiple facets of biodiversity vary across space and time can help to predict the vulnerability of mountaintop floras to future environmental changes. Here we addressed the following questions: (a) Are elevational patterns of mountaintop plant diversity consistent across taxonomy, function and phylogeny? (b) How have the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic dimensions of mountaintop plant communities changed over the past two decades? (c) Is the magnitude of these temporal trends dependent on elevation?LocationDovrefjell, central Norway.MethodsThe floristic composition of four mountaintops, spread across an elevational gradient from the tree line to the uppermost margins of vascular plant life, was surveyed every 7 years between 2001 and 2022. Six metrics of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic richness and differentiation were calculated for each mountaintop and survey. Using these data, we assessed how richness and differentiation metrics varied over space (across the elevational gradient) and over time (between surveys).ResultsAll diversity metrics decreased towards higher elevations, except phylogenetic differentiation which increased significantly by 7% per 100 m elevational gain. Taxonomic richness remained virtually stable between 2001 and 2022, whereas phylogenetic richness increased by 7.5% per decade. Functional richness also increased, but mainly on the lowest mountaintop, by 17% per decade. No significant temporal trends in taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic differentiation were detected.ConclusionsOur findings underpin rearrangements in the functional and phylogenetic structure of mountain plant communities over the past two decades that cannot be predicted from trends in taxonomic richness alone. This highlights the necessity to look beyond species richness and consider multiple facets of biodiversity when studying environmental change impacts on mountain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Infectious Keratitis: Characterization of Microbial Diversity through Species Richness and Shannon Diversity Index.

Purpose: To characterize microbial keratitis diversity utilizing species richness and Shannon Diversity Index. Methods: Corneal impression membrane was used to collect samples. All swabs were processed and analyzed by Biolab Laboratory (level V-SSN Excellence: ISO 9001:2015), Biolab Srl (Ascoli Piceno, Italy). DNA extraction, library preparation, and sequencing were performed in all samples. After sequencing, low-quality and polyclonal sequences were filtered out by the Ion software. At this point, we employed Kraken2 for microbial community analysis in keratitis samples. Nuclease-free water and all the reagents included in the experiment were used as a negative control. The primary outcome was the reduction in bacterial DNA (microbial load) at T1, expressed as a percentage of the baseline value (T0). Richness and Shannon alpha diversity metrics, along with Bray-Curtis beta diversity values, were calculated using the phyloseq package in R. Principal coordinate analysis was also conducted to interpret these metrics. Results: 19 samples were included in the study. The results exhibited a motley species richness, with the highest recorded value surpassing 800 species. Most of the samples displayed richness values ranging broadly from under 200 to around 600, indicating considerable variability in species count among the keratitis samples. Conclusions: A significant presence of both typical and atypical bacterial phyla in keratitis infections, underlining the complexity of the disease's microbial etiology.

Combined benthic and stream edge sampling better represent macroinvertebrate assemblages than benthic sampling alone along an aridity gradient

AbstractStudies of stream macroinvertebrates traditionally use sampling methods that target benthic habitats. These methods could underestimate biodiversity if important assemblage components exist outside of the benthic zone. To test the efficacy of different sampling methods, we collected paired reach‐wide benthic and edge samples from up to 10 study reaches in nine basins spanning an aridity gradient across the United States. Edge sampling targeted riparian‐adjacent microhabitats not typically sampled, including submerged vegetation, roots, and overhanging banks. We compared observed richness, asymptotic richness, and assemblage dissimilarity between benthic samples alone and different combinations of benthic and edge samples to determine the magnitude of increased diversity and assemblage dissimilarity values with the addition of edge sampling. We also examined how differences in richness and assemblage composition varied across an aridity gradient. The addition of edge sampling significantly increased observed richness (median increase = 29%) and asymptotic richness (median increase = 173%). Similarly, median Bray–Curtis dissimilarity values increased by as much as 0.178 when benthic and edge samples were combined. Differences in richness metrics were generally higher in arid basins, but assemblage dissimilarity either increased or decreased across the aridity gradient depending on how benthic and edge samples were combined. Our results suggest that studies that do not sample stream edges may significantly underestimate reach diversity and misrepresent assemblage compositions, with effects that can vary across climates. We urge researchers to carefully consider sampling methods in field studies spanning climatic zones and the comparability of existing data sets when conducting data synthesis studies.

Multi-decadal improvements in the ecological quality of European rivers are not consistently reflected in biodiversity metrics.

Humans impact terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, yet many broad-scale studies have found no systematic, negative biodiversity changes (for example, decreasing abundance or taxon richness). Here we show that mixed biodiversity responses may arise because community metrics show variable responses to anthropogenic impacts across broad spatial scales. We first quantified temporal trends in anthropogenic impacts for 1,365 riverine invertebrate communities from 23 European countries, based on similarity to least-impacted reference communities. Reference comparisons provide necessary, but often missing, baselines for evaluating whether communities are negatively impacted or have improved (less or more similar, respectively). We then determined whether changing impacts were consistently reflected in metrics of community abundance, taxon richness, evenness and composition. Invertebrate communities improved, that is, became more similar to reference conditions, from 1992 until the 2010s, after which improvements plateaued. Improvements were generally reflected by higher taxon richness, providing evidence that certain community metrics can broadly indicate anthropogenic impacts. However, richness responses were highly variable among sites, and we found no consistent responses in community abundance, evenness or composition. These findings suggest that, without sufficient data and careful metric selection, many common community metrics cannot reliably reflect anthropogenic impacts, helping explain the prevalence of mixed biodiversity trends.

Deconstructing the Dimensions of Mycobiome Fingerprints in Luohandu Cave, Guilin, Southern China.

Subterranean karst caves are windows into the terrestrial subsurface to deconstruct the dimensions of mycobiome fingerprints. However, impeded by the constraints of remote locations, the inaccessibility of specimens and technical limitations, the mycobiome of subterranean karst caves has remained largely unknown. Weathered rock and sediment samples were collected from Luohandu cave (Guilin, Southern China) and subjected to Illumina Hiseq sequencing of ITS1 genes. A total of 267 known genera and 90 known orders in 15 phyla were revealed in the mycobiomes. Ascomycota dominated all samples, followed by Basidiomycota and Mortierellomycota. The sediments possessed the relatively highest alpha diversity and were significantly different from weathered rocks according to the diversity indices and richness metrics. Fifteen families and eight genera with significant differences were detected in the sediment samples. The Ca/Mg ratio appeared to significantly affect the structure of the mycobiome communities. Ascomycota appeared to exert a controlling influence on the mycobiome co-occurrence network of the sediments, while Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were found to be the main phyla in the mycobiome co-occurrence network of weathered rocks. Our results provide a more comprehensive dimension to the mycobiome fingerprints of Luohandu cave and a new window into the mycobiome communities and the ecology of subterranean karst cave ecosystems.

Impacts of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata, Brassicaceae) invasion on oribatid mites in urban forest soils vary with the size of the invaded patch

Investment in non-native species management should be informed by knowledge of impact, including on native biodiversity and ecosystem function. Oribatid soil mites may be useful to evaluate the impacts of plant invasions since they are bioindicators of disturbance and soil ecosystem health. Still, more research is needed to characterize their responses to plant invasion, especially at the species level. Our objective was to determine the effect of invasion of urban forest understories by an allelopathic weed (garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata (Brassicaceae)) on belowground oribatid mite species and communities. At two sites in central Alberta (Canada), over two years, we examined adult oribatid (≥ 300 µm) community assemblages, species richness, evenness, diversity, and abundance in plots invaded with garlic mustard and uninvaded plots with native vegetation. Environmental covariates known to be associated with soil invertebrate communities were also evaluated. Results suggest that the spatial extent of the garlic mustard invasion (patch area) mediates its impact on oribatid mite communities. However, there were no community-level impacts when considering invasion as binary (garlic mustard vs. native vegetation). Garlic mustard patch area influenced oribatid community composition and was positively related to species richness and several abundance metrics. The oribatid species we observed benefiting from garlic mustard invasion have been previously associated with disturbed soils. The mechanisms driving these patterns need more research, but we hypothesize they may relate to patch-specific resident times. Site was also a dominant factor influencing oribatid mite communities, and impacts of year, litter depth, and canopy cover were also detected at the species and/or community level. These findings contribute to our understanding of the impact of an invasive weed on bioindicating soil mite communities and species and highlight the importance of considering invasion context, including spatial extent when evaluating the impacts of invasive species on belowground invertebrate communities.

The role of seedbanks and hyporheic refuges in supporting benthic invertebrate community resistance and resilience to dry phases

In intermittent streams, aquatic organisms use various strategies to face dry phases, but the relative contribution of these strategies to persist during dry phase remains unclear. Here, we investigated the in situ persistence of benthic invertebrates in the saturated hyporheic sediments and the “invertebrate seedbank” that persists in dry sediments across six Mediterranean intermittent streams. Taxonomic and functional responses within hyporheic and seedbank assemblages were compared with those in the benthic assemblages under connected flow conditions by combining field and mesocosms data. The dry phase duration in each stream was calculated to assess the responses of hyporheic and seedbank assemblages. Taxonomic composition and abundance-weighted traits related to resistance and resilience to face the dry phase in each assemblage type (benthic, hyporheic, seedbank) were determined. Taxonomic (richness and diversity) and functional (richness and dispersion) metrics were also calculated. We found that seedbank and hyporheic assemblages supported up to 16% and 40% of the benthic taxa, respectively. Only taxonomic and functional richness differed between assemblage types. Contrary to previous research, no clear relationship was established between diversity or the abundance of resistance traits and the duration of dry phase; however, a negative linear relationship was identified between the abundance of resilience traits and the duration of the dry phase. The increase in the frequency and duration of drying events due to climate change will reduce water availability in both saturated and unsaturated streambed sediments, compromising the persistence of aquatic biodiversity in intermittent streams.

Extending the conservation impact of great ape research: Flagship species sites facilitate biodiversity assessments and land preservation.

To inform regional conservation planning, we assessed mammalian and avian biodiversity in the Djéké Triangle, which is an intact forest with long-term research and tourism focused on western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). This critical region serves as a conservation conduit between the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park (NNNP) in the Republic of Congo and the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in Central African Republic. Wildlife inventories were conducted to determine if biodiversity in the Djéké Triangle (initially part of a logging concession) was equivalent to the NNNP. Camera traps (CTs) were deployed to estimate species richness, relative abundance, naïve occupancy, and activity patterns of medium-to-large species in mixed species and monodominant Gilbertiodendron forests that comprise the majority of regional terra firma. Species inventories were collected from CTs positioned on a grid and at termite nests throughout the Djéké Triangle and compared to CTs placed in the Goualougo Triangle located within the NNNP. From 10,534 camera days at 65 locations, we identified 34 mammal and 16 bird species. Allaying concerns of wildlife depletion, metrics of species richness in the Djéké Triangle surpassed those of the Goualougo Triangle. Many species were observed to occur across habitats, while others showed habitat specificity, with termite mounds indicated as an important microhabitat feature. Our comparisons of animal activity budgets in different habitat types provide important reference information for other populations and contexts. In conclusion, this study provided empirical evidence of the high conservation value of this region that contributed to increasing the protected status of the Djéké Triangle.

MFGAD-INT: in-band network telemetry data-driven anomaly detection using multi-feature fusion graph deep learning

As the cloud services market grows, cloud management tools that detect network anomalies in a non-intrusive manner are critical to improve users’ experience of cloud services. However, some network anomalies, such as Microburst, in cloud systems are very discreet. Network monitoring methods, e.g., SNMP, Ping, are of coarse temporal granularity or low-dimension metrics, have difficulty to identify such anomalies quickly and accurately. Network telemetry is able to collect rich network metrics with fine temporal granularity, which can provide deep insight into network anomalies. However, the rich features in the telemetry data are insufficient exploited in existing research. This paper proposes a Multi-feature Fusion Graph Deep learning approach driven by the In-band Network Telemetry, shorted as MFGAD-INT, to efficiently extract and process the spatial-temporal correlation information in telemetry data and effectively identify the anomalies. The experimental results show that the accuracy performance of the proposed method improves about 10.56% compared to the anomaly detection method without network telemetry and about 9.73% compared to the network telemetry-based method.

Urban spontaneous plant richness in response to the 2D/3D building and green space patterns in a highly urbanized area

The impact of landscape patterns on urban plant diversity has received significant attention; however, previous studies have primarily focused on two-dimensional (2D) patterns. Limited investigations have been conducted to explore the effects of three-dimensional (3D) landscape patterns on urban plant diversity. Spontaneous plants are ideal objects for studying the response of plant diversity to urban environments due to their independence from intentional human inputs. Buildings, as a crucial symbol of urbanization, exhibit strong 3D characteristics in urban landscapes. Green spaces, the most important source of plant propagules in cities, are closely related to spontaneous plant diversity in urban areas. Therefore, we examined how 2D/3D building and green space patterns influence urban spontaneous plant species richness and compared the responses between different categories (native and non-native). We surveyed spontaneous plants in the built-up areas of Shenzhen, a highly urbanized region situated along China’s southern coast. Our survey recorded 278 species belonging to 208 genera and 77 families. Results from boosted regression tree models (BRT) indicated significant correlations between spontaneous plant species richness and various metrics, including building coverage ratio (BCR), mean building height (MAH), green space coverage ratio (GCR), edge density of green spaces (ED_G), spatial congestion degree (SCD), and floor area ratio (FAR). These metrics exhibited complex nonlinear correlations with the species richness of spontaneous plants. Furthermore, native and non-native species richness responded differently to building and green space patterns; while native species richness was equally affected by green space and building patterns, non-native species richness was more strongly impacted by building patterns than green space ones. Our study quantified the nonlinear relationships between urban spontaneous plant species richness and 2D/3D green space and building patterns, demonstrating that optimizing green space and building patterns can be a practical approach for managing and promoting spontaneous plant diversity in highly urbanized areas.

Time, climate, and soil settings set the course for reclamation outcomes following dryland energy development

AbstractSoil attributes, climate, and time since reclamation have important implications for oil and gas reclamation success on drylands. It is uncertain if reclaimed well pads, on highly degraded drylands, can successfully regain ecological function or meet indicator benchmarks for reclamation. Here, our goals were to assess patterns in reclamation outcomes relative to (1) soil attributes, climate, and time since reclamation; and (2) plant and soil reference benchmarks. We collected a suite of plant, soil, and landscape characteristics from 134 reclaimed well pads on the Colorado Plateau that spanned climate and soil gradients and ranged from 2 to 20 years post‐reclamation, then compared characteristics to those from 583 reference plots. On the reclaimed pads, less saline soils, more mesic climates, and longer time since reclamation were associated with favorable reclamation outcomes based on metrics of plant species richness and diversity, plant structure, and cover of important plant functional groups. However, most pads had major departures in 1/4 indicators, suggesting unsuccessful reclamation. Arid warm locations with shallow soils had the greatest percentage of major departures, and noxious plant richness had the greatest departures across soil and climate settings. Our assessment indicates reclamation is failing in key metrics for most pads, and the results highlight the role of environmental conditions in driving reclamation outcomes. These new insights are valuable for ascertaining possible reclamation outcomes and success rates following energy related disturbance, including orphaned wells and renewable energy development. Importantly, the approach used here has applicability for setting benchmarks and outcome standards.

Multiple facets of biodiversity are threatened by mining‐induced land‐use change in the Brazilian Amazon

AbstractAimMining is increasingly pressuring areas of critical importance for biodiversity conservation, such as the Brazilian Amazon. Biodiversity data are limited in the tropics, restricting the scope for risks to be appropriately estimated before mineral licensing decisions are made. As the distributions and range sizes of other taxa differ markedly from those of vertebrates—the common proxy for analysis of risk to biodiversity from mining—whether mining threatens lesser‐studied taxonomic groups differentially at a regional scale is unclear.LocationBrazilian Amazon.MethodsWe assess risks to several facets of biodiversity from industrial mining by comparing mining areas (within 70 km of an active mining lease) and areas unaffected by mining, employing species richness, species endemism, phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic endemism metrics calculated for angiosperms, arthropods and vertebrates.ResultsMining areas contained higher densities of species occurrence records than the unaffected landscape, and we accounted for this sampling bias in our analyses. None of the four biodiversity metrics differed between mining and nonmining areas for vertebrates. For arthropods, species endemism was greater in mined areas. Mined areas also had greater angiosperm species richness, phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic endemism, although less species endemism than unmined areas.Main ConclusionsUnlike for vertebrates, facets of angiosperm and arthropod diversity are relatively higher in areas of mining activity, underscoring the need to consider multiple taxonomic groups and biodiversity facets when assessing risk and evaluating management options for mining threats. Particularly concerning is the proximity of mining to areas supporting deep evolutionary history, which may be impossible to recover or replace. As pressures to expand mining in the Amazon grow, impact assessments with broader taxonomic reach and metric focus will be vital to conserving biodiversity in mining regions.

Spatial phylogenetics of the flora in the Sierra Madre del Sur, Mexico: Evolutionary puzzles in tropical mountains

AbstractAimTo test explicitly whether the Sierra Madre del Sur includes areas with significant neo‐, paleo‐ and mixed endemism and to explore possible environmental drivers implied in their high species richness and spatial phylogenetic patterns.LocationSierra Madre del Sur, Mexico.TaxonVascular plants.MethodsSpecies richness, species endemism, phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic endemism were analysed through a categorical analysis of neo‐ and paleo‐endemism for a set of 91493 unique records. Nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis tests for multiple comparisons of environmental variables among phylogenetic endemism categories were conducted.ResultsThe area includes 9524 species with 1133 endemics. The spatial distribution of species richness, endemism and phylogenetic metrics is heterogeneous. Species richness has a strong correlation with weighted endemism and weighted phylogenetic endemism. Neoendemism is mainly concentrated in the pine‐oak forest at higher elevations, paleo‐endemism in pine‐oak forest and seasonally dry tropical forest at lower elevations; mixed and super‐endemism were located in the cloud forest and its ecotones with the pine‐oak forest, tropical rain forest and seasonally dry tropical forest. The Kruskal–Wallis test showed significant differences only for elevation, precipitation and temperature.Main conclusionsThe Sierra Madre del Sur includes areas of neo‐, paleo‐ and mixed endemism heterogeneously distributed, representing an evolutionary puzzle of phylogenetic diversity promoted by environmental complexity. Recent diversification is suggested for areas of neoendemism, mainly in regions of pine‐oak forest and seasonally dry tropical forest, where elevation, seasonality and precipitation are variable. Areas of paleo‐ and mixed endemism indicate the preservation of ancient lineages in cloud forest and tropical forest. The Sierra Madre del Sur represents an intricate scenario for the diversification of Neotropical flora, with singular elements diverged in situ and others migrated and preserved in climatic and adaptative refugia through time.

Coupled biological and hydrological processes shape spatial food-web structures in riverine metacommunities

IntroductionUnderstanding how species are distributed in space and how they interact with each other is central for scientific and conservation purposes. Species' distributions and interactions result from a complex interplay of local trophic dynamics, dispersal processes, resource availability, and abiotic factors governed by the landscape matrix, which also determines the spatial connectivity for organisms' dispersal and resource fluxes. River networks not only exhibit universal spatial structures, but their dendritic landscape structure is tightly linked to species and metacommunity processes therein.MethodsHere, using a mechanistic model of spatially connected food webs integrating both essential biological and hydrological aspects, we investigate how food-web properties vary in space, and how these patterns are influenced by key model parameters. We then contrast our predictions with a suite of null models, where different aspects (such as spatial structure or trophic interactions) of the spatial food-web model are alternatively relaxed.ResultsWe find that species richness is highest in areas where local nutrient load is maximal (lowland headwaters, according to our default assumption). Overall, species richness is positively associated with link density, modularity and omnivory, and negatively related to connectance, nestedness, and niche overlap. However, for metrics such as connectance and omnivory, stochasticity of trophic interactions is a much stronger predictor than spatial variables such as distance to outlet and drainage area. Remarkably, relationships between species richness and food-web metrics do not generally hold in null models, and are hence the outcome of coupled biological and physical (i.e., hydrological) processes characteristic to river networks.DiscussionOur model generates realistic patterns of species richness and food-web properties, shows that no universal food-web patterns emerge as a result of the riverine landscape structure, and paves the way for future applications aimed at disentangling metacommunity dynamics in river networks.

Behavior reference intervals and activity budgets of bottlenose dolphins in accredited zoos and aquariums

Knowledge of the spectrum and frequency of species-appropriate behaviors is valuable when evaluating the welfare of animals living under professional care. Dolphins have a rich behavioral repertoire and behavioral metrics have been used to quantify behavior. Data in the present study were collected as part of a larger study titled “Towards understanding the welfare of cetaceans in zoos and aquariums” (colloquially called the Cetacean Welfare Study). Behavior data were collected on 43 common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at 23 facilities. Dolphins were video recorded three times per week for 25 min over one five-week data collection period between July and November of 2018 and a second five-week data collection period between January and April of 2019. Solo and group swimming were the two most common behavior states for dolphins. Group active, chase, fast swimming, tactile, and ventral swimming were significantly impacted by age. Interacting with conspecifics was significantly impacted by time of day. The rate of fluke-out dives was associated with sex. Behavioral diversity was significantly impacted by age and sex. The findings presented here are representative of behavioral observations collected from the largest number of individuals in the largest number of zoo and aquarium habitats that have been published to date. These results provide the first normal reference intervals for behavior and a comprehensive activity budget that encompasses the behavior of dolphins living in a variety of accredited zoo and aquarium habitat types and social structures. The activity budgets and reference intervals are valuable as a tool for monitoring welfare and for increasing our understanding of typical dolphin behavior across broad environmental and management conditions.